Orchestras: Curtain Raiser

It was at Fulton, Mo., that Winston
Churchill first used the term Iron Curtain, in a speech there in 1946.
But to the members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, 100 miles east
of Fulton, the really troublesome iron curtain was the one that divided
the massive Kiel Auditorium into two parts: a symphony hall on one side
and a sports arena on the other. Once, Pianist Andre Watts, playing a
concerto with the orchestra, heard a strange noise. "I thought
something was wrong with the timpani," he said, "but it was only...